[video / action for Route 37]

[meteorman]

[As is usual whenever Ford makes a post, the feed clicks on and he immediately starts talking.]

Take a look at this!

[He lifts up his hands -- both of them, because as usual, Roswell is holding the 'gear. Cradled in his palms and looking just a tad bit overwhelmed to be on video is--]

Fungus!

[Yep. It's a Morelull, and he is just over the moon about it.]

I had thought that Foongus and Amoongus were the only mushroom-imitating Pokemon (not counting, of course, the parasitic variety that preys on the Paras line). I have read through the Pokedex quite a few times since my arrival and there was never mention of this species, but lo and behold, an entry has appeared for Morelull sometime within the last few days. Is this a common occurrence? Is there always potential for completely new Pokemon to simply materialize out of the ether? Fantastic.

And sensible. There are over fourteen thousand species of mushroom native to my own dimension, to say nothing of molds and yeasts. That only a select few Pokemon have ever adapted a similar biology is surprising when fungus is one of the more successful organisms as a general rule; my assumption now is that there are many, many more and we simply haven't stumbled upon them yet. Not only that but Morelull is Grass and Fairy type! I wonder if they naturall congregate in rings in their resting day state--

[Oh my god. This is so cool. This is so cool you guys. Does this mean he's going to be spending the rest of his time in Johto aggressively checking rotten logs for new Pokemon species? Probably.]

Comments

[meteorman]

[Titania blinks. She can't exactly wave back, but she does tilt her head -- her whole body? -- in acknowledgement.]

Yes indeed! When Forretress evolves it gains an additional steel typing. My working theory is that the tree bark Pineco covers itself in hardens into a petrified coating of sorts.

[callbacks]

Rad.

[Bugs are so. Cool.]

I wonder if it has anything to do with some sort of fucknuts overdrive fossilization process? You know, like how petrified wood's like that 'cause minerals replace the dead plant fibers. Maybe she absorbed, I dunno, iron right out of the air.

[meteorman]

It's possible. Considering the amount of light evolution tends to give off it is clearly a monumental expenditure of energy. If that involves a forcible chemical reaction in the case of Forretress it wouldn't surprise me.

[callbacks]

Who would we ask about stuff like that? I mean, there's that Professor guy back in New Bark, but most of the time I completely forget that dude exists.

1/2

[meteorman]

Yyyyes. That has been an issue -- the relative lack of information. The Pokedex is only a rudimentary guide, meant for ten year old children. Finding more in-depth scientific literature has proven difficult.

[meteorman]

That's why I've taken it upon myself to compile my own research. I didn't get that degree in xenobiology for nothing.

[callbacks]

They have degrees for that?

[Why doesn't he have one??]

[meteorman]

In quite a few of the multiverses I visited, yes. Higher learning is very interesting on worlds where multidimensional theory is common knowledge.

[callbacks]

Uh, yeah, I guess it would be. Really puts the idea of study abroad into perspective, huh.

[meteorman]

It certainly does! But I find the idea that there is always something new to learn if you take the time to look for it somewhat comforting. It means that the pursuit of knowledge is never pointless.

[callbacks]

I guess that's pretty cool. I never was the gentleman scholar type, so I dunno. Maybe I can see the assurance that even if something gets all dried up something else is growing somewhere else. So nothing's ever totally over.

[...]

That what you're saying, except about science and junk?

[meteorman]

Something like that, yes.

[A little bleaker than he was going for, but Stanford 'On this dark weird road I walk, I'm afraid you cannot follow' Pines can't really judge.]

If we accept that infinite universes exist then we must also accept as consequence that there is always something out there unlike anything we have ever seen before, based on simple statistics. It's merely a matter of finding it.

[callbacks]

Hm. Yeah.

[Dave thinks about it.]

Yeah, you know, what's what I'm always saying? I mean, on the one hand, potential for infinite suckage, I get that's not comforting to everybody. On the other hand, there's always another rainbow. Right?

[meteorman]

[He nods.]

Often with colors as-yet unknowable to the human race, even.

[callbacks]

Wouldn't those just be light wavelengths off our visible spectrum?

[See? Dave can do a science, too.]

[meteorman]

In universes that work on the same basic fundamental principles as the ones you and I are from, yes, but there exist worlds where the very basics of physics are different. It has at times made research monumentally more difficult, but often that much more rewarding.

[callbacks]

Huh.

[He nods slowly. That makes sense. He thinks.]

...So what happens when people who come from a world where physics does one thing go to a world where physics do something completely different? Do their eyes explode. Do their eyes explode first.

[meteorman]

That -- that depends. Often I have found that a universe will have its own inherent law of normalization as a self-defense measure. Haven't you wondered how all of those of us who are visitors here somehow speak the native language? This universe has an incredibly high rate of adaptability when it comes to non-native beings.

But I suppose theoretically if a universe was different enough it might cause eye explosion. I wouldn't rule it out.

[callbacks]

Oh, y'know, I stopped wondering about that ages ago. I mean, the language thing. I should've considered the question though because really, the trolls didn't make all these universes so it doesn't make sense to assume massive similarities came down 'cause of heritable cosmogenetic descent.

[meteorman]

Unfortunately no, though that would be a neat and tidy explanation. I personally have visited very few artificially-created universes, as far as I'm aware. Unfortunately it's difficult to tell if you don't know going in.

[callbacks]

[Dave pauses, then tilts his head.]

There's more? Artificially-created universes.

[meteorman]

Theoretically? There are infinity of them. In practice as I said I have only seen a few. One was in use as a car battery.

[callbacks]

Uhh.

Actually, mine turned out to be a frog, so I guess that's not too weird.

[meteorman]

[He doesn't even bat an eyelash at the implication of a universe contained entirely within a frog, so no, it's probably not too weird.]

Certainly not. What sort of frog?

[callbacks]

The kind selectively bred through time paradoxes by frantic middle school aliens racing the clock for survival and the promise of godhood.

It's a pain in the ass.